AK

It's been a long journey, but I'm finally here.

Ever since I saw videos in the early '90's of crazy people riding crazy mountains, I've wanted in. The stars finally aligned this year and now I'm sitting in Juneau, AK, with the rain tapping against the window in a little hotel, waiting for a ferry to take me north to Haines, and to a week of heli-boarding.

Leaving BC seemed quite sudden. I guess we'd been spending the good part of a month getting ready for it, shipping goods back to Australia, trying to sell stuff, applying for jobs, saying many goodbyes. But the actual departure came up quickly.

We had moved to Whistler for the month of March, to get some skiing done and for Teesha to complete her Paralympic duties. Nash spent some great days up the mountain and as a 3 year old is now a terror on skis. An expensive gift that may well keep his (and his parents) pockets empty for years to come. Teesha and I felt ourselves uncoiling slowly, all the Olympic stress finally being expelled. This was possibly one of the Canada moments we'd miss the most - skiing, hot tub, beers and the relaxed atmosphere of Whistler during the Paralympics.


After some epic days riding Whistler, and a 2 1/2 day back country avalanche course, we went down to Vancouver for the final staff wrap up party. Only I wasn't coming back. The next day I said bye to Nash and Teesha and headed south to Seattle. The bus trip gave me a good opportunity to reflect on our time here. It still seemed surreal that I wouldn't be coming back to Canada, and more so that I was leaving solo. After so much time with my little family it seemed weird heading off by myself. Vancouver had said goodbye with a typical wet and grey day which mostly followed me all the way to Washington State. By the time I'd got off the bus, dragged my board and gear through Seattle, caught a tram to the airport and a shuttle to my hotel, plans to eat in town were shelved. A burger and beer at the hotel sufficed and an early night to bed. Tomorrow I'd be in AK.

The flight up was uneventful. Somehow I escaped excess baggage charges with my 60 pound snowboard bag (we are in the US here) and watched out my window as we flew back the way I'd come the day before, thinking about all the times I'd looked out a plane window at snow covered mountains and thought "I wish I could ride that...". Soon I would be able to do just that. Unfortunately the further north we flew, the clouds got higher along with the mountains. Sneak peaks though gaps were infrequent and I finally lost myself in a book instead of the view.


The approach to Juneau was beautiful, across sounds and spines dotted with snow. Checking in at the hotel I quickly dropped my gear and got a lift into Haines proper.

They say Alaska is the final frontier, and the impressions I got were of an independent community supporting each other. Lots of little bare-bones, indelendent shops, art stores and cafes that possibly said more about the owners personality than it did their customers. The creative streak was high. I liked it.

A typical (or atypical?)conversation went along the lines of
"What are you doing out here?"
"I'm off to Haines."
"Haines? Why would you want to go there, unless you're heliskiing."
"Yup, that's it"
"You must be flying with SeanDog. He's crazy! Tell him Agent X said hello."
"What?"
"Agent X. That's me. Pleased to meet you."



Everywhere I went I ran into a friendly bunch of random personalities. And I did feel like I was in one of the last frontiers. So tomorrow, I explore. The day after that, the show begins!